


A Mess, but a Perfect One

by kj_feybarn



Series: Slices of Happiness [2]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: It's stressful when your padawan grows up, Slice of Life, Things being happy in the Jedi Temple
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-31
Updated: 2019-12-31
Packaged: 2021-02-27 13:22:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,742
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22057705
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kj_feybarn/pseuds/kj_feybarn
Summary: There’s a message waiting for her when she picks up her data pad. 'Aayla's on her first solo mission. Quinlan's being Quinlan. Drinks tonight?'An easy moment between three friends.
Relationships: Barriss Offee & Luminara Unduli, Luminara Unduli & Quinlan Vos, Obi-Wan Kenobi & Luminara Unduli, Obi-Wan Kenobi & Quinlan Vos
Series: Slices of Happiness [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1595488
Comments: 30
Kudos: 794
Collections: Chill Winter Exchange 2019





	A Mess, but a Perfect One

**Author's Note:**

  * For [stonefreeak](https://archiveofourown.org/users/stonefreeak/gifts).



_Aayla's on her first solo mission. Quinlan's being Quinlan. Drinks tonight?_

_-OK_

Luminara stared at the message on her datapad for a long moment, considering it. Obi-Wan must have been particularly tired when he sent this particular message, he was normally a little more verbose than this.

And he never let an opportunity to make fun of Quinlan pass him by.

But then, perhaps a little exhaustion was to be expected, she knew that he and his padawan had just come in from a diplomatic mission. Which, knowing Obi-Wan and Anakin's track record, meant that he'd probably spent a ridiculous amount of time being shot at.

Obi-Wan's missions always seemed to go wrong in the most ridiculous of ways. It was a constant cause for concern. She hated visiting him in the healers ward, or more often, discovering he was injured and then forcing him to the healers ward... but at the same time, she trusted Obi-Wan to survive, to take care of himself as well as he understood how, and to come back if it was at all possible... so, while she would always be concerned about what her friend was getting into... well, Obi-Wan's missions made for some of the best betting pools in the Temple.

She had a standing wager for Obi-Wan being propositioned on his missions, and she won that particular wager regularly enough that it was almost no fun anymore, except for the amount of ammunition it gave her to tease her friend with. With this particular mission, if Obi-Wan and Anakin had spent more than three days running for their lives than Luminara was set to earn several favors and earn first dibs on any new gossip that Master Nu picked up on.

She shook her head, pushing away her thoughts of what she might be able to use those favors for and focused back on the message from Obi-Wan.

Drinks out with Quinlan and Obi-Wan? It'd been quite some time since they'd all three been in the Temple. It was a shame Bant and Garen had both just been sent out on their own missions. And Reeft still hadn't returned from his last mission. But even if it was just the three of them, it was certain to be enjoyable, even if Quinlan was being mopey about his padawan being so close to her Knighting.

She sent a tentative acceptance to the invitation. She'd have to check with Barriss. The two of them had been a Master Padawan pair for a little over a year now, and Luminara knew that the girl could handle an evening by herself.

At least when Luminara left Barriss to her own devices she didn't come back to an apartment on fire... an experience certain friends of hers had experienced with their own padawans. Although, now that she thought about it, there had been the one morning where Barriss had almost destroyed their small kitchen when the toaster had somehow made its way into the sink. Though Barriss claimed she hadn't been the one to put it there. Apparently, making food while half asleep was not a talent that her padawan possessed.

Still, capable of spending the evening by herself or not, Luminara still wanted to check that Barriss didn't need her help or want to spend an evening together. They liked to have an easy night together at least once a week and they hadn't done that yet this week.

Barriss returned from her classes just before lunch, which they spent in the commissary after Luminara burned their soup—cooking had never been her forte.

And, as it turned out, Barriss was somewhat delighted to hear that Luminara would be spending the evening out. She and a few other padawans wanted to set up a sleepover in the map room. To study for astronavigation, Barriss assured her, eyes wide and attempting to be guileless. But Luminara remembered nights like that well enough to know that little astronavigation would be studied. Still, just as Master Mendina had pretended to believe Luminara, Luminara pretended to believe Barriss.

She remembered her own sleepovers in the map room. Sleeping had never really been a thing that had happened. Gossiping, teasing, pranks, dares... those had all featured fairly heavily. And then when they did start getting tired in the early morning, they'd lay down and stare at the projection of stars around them and make up stories about where they would travel and the adventures they would have.

She smiled a little fondly. Oh, how young they'd once been. How bright and free the galaxy had looked from within the safety of their home. Things had seemed limitless back then. As though with enough bravery and an unshakeable faith in the Force they could achieve anything.

They were all a little wiser now, and while that wisdom had been hard-earned, Luminara still missed those times where she had thought that all the wrongs of the galaxy could be righted.

She'd let Barriss have that as long as she could.

-_-

She met Obi-Wan at the entrance to the temple. She gave him a quick once over. For having been in the temple all day, it looked as though Obi-Wan hadn't yet managed to head to his quarters to get cleaned up from the last mission. "You look like you fell into a nest of Gundarks."

His hair was a mess and his beard quite unkempt, his tunics were rumpled and Luminara thought she saw what might have been a blaster burn along the sleeve—though it was also possible that he didn't have any un-singed tunics anymore and that was an old burn—and he had dark circles under his eyes that said it'd been a while since he'd slept.

Obi-Wan narrowed his eyes at her, looking exasperated. "That happened _twice_." He ran his hand through his hair, making him look even more of a mess than he already did.

She gave him a pointed look. "Most of us manage to go through life without it happening even once."

"Are we talking about Obi-Wan's habit of falling into Gundark's nests?" Quinlan asked cheerfully as he sauntered up to them, throwing an arm around each of their shoulders.

Luminara blinked at the arm draped carefully over her shoulders. She normally wasn't one for touch, and Quinlan knew that and respected that. He only touched her when _he_ was in need of that comfort.

He really wasn't taking Aayla going out on her first solo mission well at all then.

"Twice does not a habit make." Obi-Wan argued as he pushed at Quinlan, though not hard enough to make Quinlan remove his arm.

Luminara shrugged, also being careful to not remove Quinlan's arm from her shoulder. "I'm with Quinlan on this one. I think we're allowed to call it a habit at this point."

Obi-Wan rolled his eyes. "It was _twice_. But _fine_. Where are we going for drinks?"

Quinlan's eyes lit up. "I have a place."

Obi-Wan met her eyes from around Quinlan and Luminara could see the same wariness in his eyes that she also felt, when Quinlan got gleeful about a place to drink it was normally a bad idea. "Quin," she started carefully, "is this somewhere we can go _without_ you or Obi-Wan starting a fight."

Quinlan huffed. "That takes all the fun out of it."

Obi-Wan sent her a betrayed look. "Excuse you, Lumi, but I don't start fights."

Luminara conceded. "Fine. Quin, is this somewhere we can go without you starting a fight while Obi-Wan eggs you on so that he can _join_ said fight while maintaining his record that he's never the one to start the fights."

Quinlan burst out laughing as he started pulling them out the door and to a waiting speeder.

Obi-Wan gasped dramatically. "You wound me, Lumi. I would _never_."

Luminara raised an eyebrow. "I distinctly remember you doing just that last time we were out."

Obi-Wan gave his best hurt-tooka look—and how, _how_ did Obi-Wan manage to make his eyes look so _sad_?—blinking at her a few times with his wide eyes.

"Your hurt-tooka look doesn't work on me."

Obi-Wan blinked again, and his eyes really were strangely expressive. She really did need to figure out how he did that.

Force, Luminara was too weak for her friends. "Fine. I'll graciously pretend that you're as innocent as you like to pretend."

Obi-Wan nodded, the hurt-tooka look gone in less than an instant. "That's all I ask, after all, all a man has is his reputation."

Quinlan rolled his eyes. "You mean your reputation that you're an absolute wet blanket?"

Obi-Wan nodded. "Exactly. No one _ever_ suspects the wet blanket."

Quinlan paused, but then nodded his concession. "That's true. Half the Masters still think you're some paragon of virtue." He sounded reluctantly impressed, the way he always did, with the fact that Obi-Wan had so many people fooled into thinking he was respectable.

Luminara snorted. Obi-Wan? A paragon of virtue? Obi-Wan was an absolute menace. It had always made things interesting, especially since their age group had already had the more obvious menace in the form of Quinlan.

Most people remained unaware that Obi-Wan was the one they needed to watch out for.

It didn't help that Obi-Wan's padawan was _also_ a menace, and so too many people thought that all of the ridiculous things that happened in the Kenobi-Skywalker apprenticeship were because of Skywalker.

Luminara knew better.

It was one of the reasons she always came out so well in the betting pools.

-_-

The cantina that Quinlan had brought them to was strangely good quality for Quinlan. Luminara had only spotted one mercenary and two bounty hunters. It was practically high class.

Quinlan was staring down at his alcohol and he was now officially moping.

He'd already had two of glasses of his drink, a Devaronian brew that was strong enough to knock a bantha on its back, and Luminara was silently impressed with the fact that he was still upright.

They'd talked about any number of things—and Luminara was pleased to note she _was_ going to come out on top in the most recent betting pool, Obi-Wan and his padawan had been on the run for four and a half days this last mission while keeping some dignitary-with-a-death-wish, who had also propositioned Obi-Wan _several_ times, alive—but now they'd made it to the reason that they'd come out for the night.

Aayla's first solo mission.

"She's just so _young_. I swear, only a few years ago she still couldn't sit still during meditation."

Obi-Wan snorted. "Age has nothing to do with a Jedi's ability to sit still and meditate. Anakin is almost 19 and he _still_ can't sit still for more than a few minutes."

Quinlan ignored him. "What am I supposed to do? Soon she's going to be out blowing up Hutt strongholds and taking on mercenary crews all by herself! And I'm going to be back here at the Temple, twiddling my thumbs." Since Quinlan also couldn't sit still for more than a few minutes that last bit was highly unlikely.

And she was pretty sure that Shadows weren't supposed to be blowing up Hutt strongholds, they were supposed to be... well, shadows. There and gone with no one the wiser.

Obi-Wan caught her eye and grinned a little, he probably knew exactly what she'd been thinking. To Quinlan he was much more diplomatic. "And she'll blow those strongholds up with impressive talent, because you've taught her well."

Quinlan pouted. "She's supposed to be a padawan forever. She's not supposed to grow up and tear up the galaxy without me."

Luminara hid her smile behind her drink. "You know you're proud of her."

Quinlan glared at her. "Of course I'm proud of her! Aayla is the best padawan anyone could ask for." He paused, and with surprising tact for how drunk he was, added, "No offense to Anakin or Barriss."

"None taken." Obi-Wan said quickly. "We know how much you love Aayla."

Luminara considered arguing the point, Barriss was truly special in so many ways, and Luminara was so fortunate that Barriss had agreed to be her padawan. But then she conceded that every Master worth the title probably thought the same about their own padawan.

"Part of being a Jedi is learning how to let go." Luminara reminded him. "And more, part of being a Master is trusting in our padawans."

"And Aayla is more than ready for this solo mission." Obi-Wan said. "She could probably do it in her sleep."

Luminara really needed to better tap into the gossip chain, if Obi-Wan knew what mission Aayla was on even though he just got back while she didn't. She got Obi-Wan's attention. 'What mission?'

'Recon.' Obi-Wan mouthed.

Luminara nodded. Yes, Aayla could most certainly handle a recon mission. "She's sneaky and smart." She assured Quinlan.

"The sneakiest and the smartest." Quinlan agreed. "Sneartest? Smarkiest? What would that be put together? That's what she is."

Obi-Wan was hiding his smile behind his glass of alcohol. "I think that's less what she is, and more a sign that you're starting to get drunk."

Quinlan waved his hand. "Not drunk. I can handle like, five more of these."

Obi-Wan snorted. "Oh? Really. I'd like—"

"To take your word for it." Luminara cut in, because there was no way that she was going to let Obi-Wan turn it into a challenge. She was _not_ going to drag these two back to the temple when they got themselves too drunk to stand. And _no_ , it didn't matter if Obi-Wan kept trying to claim that she owed him after that one time—alright, so maybe it was twice—when he'd had to give her a ride on his back back to the temple because she'd challenged Garen _and_ Quinlan and _won_.

Obi-Wan grinned at her a little cheekily. "Of course, exactly what I was going to say. I absolutely want to take your word for it."

Quinlan gave them both a suspicious look, but was apparently drunk enough to believe Obi-Wan, a mistake sober Quinlan knew better than to believe.

Never trust a cheeky Obi-Wan.

Luminara sighed.

These two. They were such _menaces_.

That was just one of the reasons she loved them.

She smiled into her own cup of alcohol, a milder brew than Quinlan's because she actually had to be a responsible and functional adult tomorrow.

But that was tomorrow.

"Barriss and her age-mates are spending the night in the map room. Aayla's out on her first mission. What's Anakin up too?" She asked Obi-Wan.

Obi-Wan sighed. "He thinks he's being sneaky on a dumpster dive for parts for the droid he thinks I don't know he's making. I expect I'm going to have to make some profuse apologies to Mace in a few days when said droid inevitably ends up targeting him with an oil bath."

Quinlan snorted. "Windu again?"

Obi-Wan shrugged. "The droid might go after Yoda, it's hard to say. Anakin still claims he doesn't program them that way. But..." He sighed.

"So, Anakin won't notice if you're not in your rooms then?" Luminara clarified.

Quinlan narrowed his eyes at her. "Are you propositioning us, Lumi?"

Luminara rolled her eyes. "Not a chance in this lifetime, Quin. But if the two of you want, we could borrow some extra blankets from the quartermaster and you could spend the night."

"Are you suggesting we make a nest and cuddle like five year olds?" Quinlan asked. He didn't wait for her to answer before he downed the rest of his drink, swaying a little. "That's _perfect_."

-_-

Quinlan was wrong more often than he was right. It was a fact of life.

But in this... in this he was right.

Her bed had been turned into a mess of blankets. Quinlan was snoring into Obi-Wan's neck, clinging to Obi-Wan—who had always been Quinlan's favorite sleep pillow—like an arboreal octopus. Obi-Wan was sprawled out as much as he could be with Quinlan clinging to him the way he was, muttering in a language Luminara couldn't recognize with how slurred Obi-Wan's sleep speech was. And Luminara, well she was warm and comfortable, wrapped in too many blankets, resting her head on Obi-Wan's arm as a substitution for a pillow, letting the quiet, sleeping sounds of her friends—her family—lull her to sleep.

It was, in a word, perfect.


End file.
